I quit my job today….

I quit my job today. Okay, it's not quite that dramatic -- I only quit a third of my job. But after a lot of soul-searching and much discussion with supportive colleagues, and, of course, with Kevin, I sent in my resignation today from my administrative positions at UIC, as associate coordinator of Asian Studies and Asian American Studies.

It wasn't an easy decision. Aside from the financial impact for our household, which is noticeable (but thankfully manageable), I'm sad to be leaving ASST and ASAM. I really like my colleagues in both programs, and I'm tremendously supportive of the work they do; I think the programs do so much for the university and for our students. I plan to keep attending their events and helping out as I have time.

But I have been feeling so pressed for time lately, and writing has been something that happened in the crevices, where I could squeeze out an hour here, an hour there. The hope here is that by going to two-thirds time with my day job (just teaching two classes / semester), it'll free up at least ten more hours a week for writing. Right now, that's the main thing I want to do -- pour myself into this book (which will hopefully be the first in a series). It's all a little nerve-wracking, but it feels good too.

I have one last big admin thing to do, which is not even for the university -- putting on the Kriti Festival. After that, I'll just be running Jaggery, which, thanks to my able staff and our thrice a year publishing schedule, is not too demanding time-wise. Mostly, I plan to write and write and write. Also teach. But mostly write.

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